Rev. and Sen. Meeks thanks voters

Day after victory, more celebrating

The question most asked of state Sen.-elect James T. Meeks on Wednesday had nothing to do with issues concerning his district, such as education, a third airport or the cost of prescription drugs.

"What do we call you now?" asked Tony Davidson, who co-hosted an early morning show on WGCI-AM 1390. "Is it Rev. Meeks? Dr. Meeks? Sen. Meeks?"

It was a query that would come up throughout the morning as a sleep-deprived Meeks worked his way through several media appearances following his election victory over five-term incumbent state Sen. William "Bill" Shaw.

"Well, right now it's Pastor Meeks," he answered. "But someone earlier called me the Reverend Senator Meeks and that sounded pretty good to me."

Meeks, running as an independent, took 40 percent of the vote in a three-way race billed as a political turf war between Shaw and his twin brother, Robert, and Rev. Jesse Jackson and his son, the congressman, who supported Meeks.

Shaw, the Democrat, finished with 36 percent of the vote and Republican Phillip R. Arnold Jr., the Thornton police chief, received 24 percent.

Meeks is the first independent member of the state Senate in recent memory.

The Shaws' political spat with the Jacksons boiled over earlier this year when the brothers allegedly put up a truck driver named Jesse L. Jackson against the congressman in the Democratic primary. The candidate later withdrew, but Jackson responded with a lawsuit.

Then in late July, Meeks, the Salem Baptist Church pastor and No. 2 man at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, jumped into the race where William Shaw was a lock for re-election.

Gracious in defeat Wednesday, Shaw offered to assist Meeks in learning the ropes in Springfield while downplaying any strife with the Jacksons.

"I don't have any axes to grind with anybody," Shaw said. "Rev. Meeks was the candidate. I'm not interested in talking about somebody I was not running against."

As for the future of the Shaw brothers' political power on the Far South Side and in the south suburbs, William Shaw said his concerns now stop at the borders of Dolton, where he has been mayor since 1997.

"If it's not in Dolton, I'm not involved in it," he said.

Robert Shaw, the former 9th Ward alderman, was elected to a second four-year term Tuesday on the Cook County Board of Review.

"William and Robert Shaw's roots in Chicago politics and Cook County politics run very deep," said Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who joined Meeks late Wednesday afternoon to wave at honking motorists on Stony Island Avenue at 95th Street.

Jackson said Meeks' campaign headquarters fielded complaints all day Tuesday from voters outside of the district who saw Robert Shaw's name on the ballot, confused it with William Shaw, and protested that they couldn't vote for Meeks.

While some criticized Shaw for using his Springfield influence to bring home pork at the exclusion of neighboring communities, supporter Bert Herzog said the loss of Shaw hurts.

"Sen. Shaw had a proven track record with experience," said Herzog, a former trustee who's now a village consultant.

Meeks capped the long day at the base of his support: his massive church at 118th Street and South Indiana Avenue. There, he turned the regular Wednesday evening service into a postelection celebration with nearly 2,000 parishioners and supporters packing the church and two nearby buildings where the action was displayed on monitors.

"He's going to rock Springfield," parishioner Stephen Moore said. "He's going to remind everybody in Springfield that he works for the people. He's not going to let us down."